Mother held over death of her sons in house fire

Wednesday 8 October 2008 19.01 EDT
First published on Wednesday 8 October 2008 19.01 EDT

The mother of two young brothers who died in a fire at their home at the weekend was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and child neglect yesterday.

Detectives questioning Denise Goldsmith, 29, said they were not treating the blaze as arson.

Witnesses had told how they tried in vain to get into the house in Eastbourne as Goldsmith screamed for someone to rescue her children. She had run out to get help, only for the front door to slam shut behind her, they said.

The bodies of her sons Lewis and Taylor Jenkins, aged seven and five, were later found huddled together under the stairs by firefighters who tackled the blaze on Saturday afternoon. Last night police said postmortems showed both boys died from smoke inhalation.

Officers said at the weekend there was nothing to suggest the fire was anything other than a tragic accident. Yesterday they arrested Goldsmith, who is understood to be estranged from the boys' father, at an address in the road. A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "She was just marched out of the house. She looked totally shocked and she was shaking as they led her to a car."

On Sunday Goldsmith, who was treated for minor burns and bruises after the fire, wept as she visited the scene and had to be restrained by her family after being told by police she could not pass a cordon to lay flowers while forensic teams worked at the property.

Jason Maynard, who was carrying out maintenance work nearby at the time of the fire, had described how he and his brother Gary tried to save the trapped children but could not get in through the front or back door.

"The mother was already outside and was screaming for someone to go in and get her kids," he said. "We could see the kitchen going up but we couldn't get in, there were flames everywhere ... it must have been one of those doors that just slam shut. We couldn't hear the boys - she thought they were under the stairs. There was nothing we could do."

In a statement, Sussex police said: "Following consultation with the CPS, Sussex police's major crime branch has arrested a 29-year-old woman on suspicion of manslaughter and child neglect.

"The cause of the fire, which led to the deaths of Lewis and Taylor Jenkins, is part of an ongoing investigation of this tragic incident, but at this stage it is not being treated as arson."

The force dismissed speculation that Goldsmith was out of the house at the time the fire started. "She was inside the property," a spokesman said.